The phrase “Summer Blockbuster” has become infamous among Americans. We all know that the latest and greatest movies that Hollywood has to offer will be released during the summer months. But what if instead of watching a summer movie, you were actually playing the summer blockbuster yourself? Well in the video game industry, summer style blockbusters happen all year round. Games such as Call of Duty Black Ops II and Halo 4 locking down the Fall season, and Grand Theft Auto Five and Tomb Raider locking down the spring season. People have begun looking at these games as not only a form of entertainment but something that would rival paying to go see a movie in an actual theater. With today’s games gaining larger and larger budgets, there has been an extreme increase of movie quality cut scenes in games and also a number of famous actors are making their way into the world of voice acting. If it isn't obvious by now, I will be choosing the perspective of Film Theory and I will also dive into a little game called Batman Arkham City.

Batman Arkham City was released in October of 2011 and was a sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum. Both games have gained critical acclaim from many video game sites such as IGN and Game Informer. Batman Arkham City takes place a couple years after Batman Arkham Asylum. Since that time many of the criminals have been placed in a prison within the city of Gotham where the criminals have begun to run crazy without any law and order. Of course in natural Batman fashion, his arch nemesis The Joker has come in contact with a poisonous toxin that he plans to send to every hospital in Gotham. Seems a tad cliche even for a series that has made millions doing plot lines very similar to this exact one. But its not just the story that has grabbed my attention for this essay, it is everything else that these great games have begun to do to the video game industry. Batman Arkham City not only has a gripping story but one that allows the player to make different decisions that will ultimately affect the outcome of the story. From the huge Sandbox game play to the graphics that will leave you asking, “How can these graphics get any better?” Rocksteady has done a great job of also keeping hardcore Batman fans busy after the main story has been completed. May 29th of 2012 Rocksteady released a Game of the Year Edition for Batman Arkham City that came bundled with a downloadable extra game called Harley Quinn’s Revenge. This DLC pack is guaranteed to have you playing for at least another two hours and has a story that may leave you feeling a tad creepy. (Miller, 2011) For those real Batman nuts, the DLC packs allow the player to have access to every Batman costume that has ever been released. From the very first costume that writer and creator Bob Kane created in May of 1939, all the way to the newest Batman costume from the films that Hollywood director Christopher Nolan remade in 2007.

But before we go into my theory for this essay we need a little more background into what exactly is Batman Arkham City? Batman Arkham City is an Action-Adventure/Stealth based game that was created by Rocksteady in 2011, as I mentioned before they had created Batman Arkham Asylum in 2009. Rocksteady is based out of Highgate, North England. The company was created by Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill. They were later published and help funded by Time Warner Productions and also famous RPG Studio Square Enix Europe. (IMDB, 2012) Until the creation of the two Batman games, no studio had successfully produced and created a comic book game that was received well by the general public. But in 2009 with the release of Batman Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady had finally delivered a comic book game worth talking about. One aspect that has made games such as Batman super popular is because of the talent they have brought in to do the voice acting for the game.One actor that has won many awards for his work is Mark Hamill. The actor is the voice for the extremely popular Joker. Hamill has been doing the voice acting as The Joker since the Batman cartoon series which was very successful during the early 90’s. (IMDB, 2012) So then who better to do the voice acting for the game then someone who has defined the voice for that character? Another voice from the cartoon series also made his way over to the game is experienced voice actor Kevin Conroy, who has been the doing the voice of Batman for over 20 years. (IMDB, 2012) So with an extremely talented cast to do the voice acting, you would think Rocksteady would just stop there. But in order to make a game as good as possible, Rocksteady’s next mission was to create graphics and gameplay that was some of the best that anybody had seen in this current generation. Both Batman Arkham City and Arkham Asylum were produced under the very popular game engine called “Unreal”. Games that have used this tech include Gears of War, Infinity Blade and Unreal Tournament. The Unreal engine was created in 1998 by Epic Games and has become one of the most popular graphic engines in the current Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 era. So with great voice acting and amazing graphics there is one other element that has set Batman Arkham City apart from the rest of competition and that is the sound. The game was composed by Nick Arundel and with the release of the game came a soundtrack that featured famous artist such as Serj Tankian, Black Audio and Coheed and Cambria. With the voice acting, gameplay and sound set, Batman Arkham City still isn’t done with all of the things that make it a great game, and also a game that would rival any good Hollywood blockbuster. Cut scenes are one of the main ingredients in making video game resemble exactly what a movie would be like, and don’t worry, Batman Arkham City doesn’t falter there either. Legendary writer for the Batman Animated Series that ran from 1992 till 1995 Paul Dini was one of the lead writers for Arkham City along with Rocksteady founder Sefton Hill. Paul Dini has been writing and directing for the DC Comic book world for over 20 years with such titles as Superman: TV Series and the underground cult hit Batman: Beyond. (IMDB, 2012) Each cut scene in Arkham City is crafted so perfect by the team at Rocksteady that it allows you the player to almost at times sit back and forget that you are even playing the game.

When choosing a theory to talk about, nothing seemed more familiar than film and I don’t think that just applies to me. As a general public I feel we have turned to movies as not only an entertainment device but more of a personal release or getaway. Millions of people flock to movie theaters around the world to see the latest movie that have come out that month. Movies and reality tv have become a conversation starter for many people and at times can spur on some heavy debates over what movie was great and what movie did not meet expectation. In the world of video games, making a game to resemble a movie-like experience is something that has been going on for sometime now. But at first this idea of making a game into a movie wasn’t received very well. “For instance in 1995 computer game Phantasmagoria was one of the most popular games of the year and a top seller, but Computer Games Magazine called it, “ This hotly-anticipated game, overblown, unintentionally hilarious and incredibly dull, labeling it a disaster.” (Wolf & Perron, 2003) Going over exactly what Phantasmagoria was, the book explained it was “selective, branching-type and menu based” to me this was surprising that this game wasn’t received well by the critics, because this is exactly what we see in todays games that have become very popular and almost the normal practice. Games like Infamous, Walking Dead and Mass Effect 3 have a story that allows the player to be involved in not only the game play, but you the player, have the ability to affect the outcome of the story. With the popularity of companies such as GameStop and Amazon buying used games have become very familiar around the video game community. Many gamers have turned to the method of buying a game and beating the main campaign and then return the game before ever digging into any other factors that the game has to offer. Which brings me back to my point that game developers have turned to making games more interactive and letting the user choose his or her path. These games tend to have alternate endings and more than likely have a story that feels like a movie.

“Another common approach assumes that an interactive storyworld consists of a core plot with some variations. The designer defines an initial state for the storyworld, then defines each of the dramatic branch points in the storyworld.” (Wolf & Perron, 2003)

In the case of Batman Arkham City, the player is given the opportunity to play as Catwoman and Batman. Without spoiling events that take place towards the end of this epic journey, the Catwoman missions put the user in a position that will ultimately affect the outcome of the story, and can change the outcome of Batman's fate drastically. For me small and little tweaks that Rocksteady did in their game like have the Catwoman stories made playing the game an utter joy. Arkham City was probably a game that I would have only played once and returned to my local GameStop. But with the process of adding a story that would have an alternate ending, made me want to keep coming back time and time again. “The gamer of a movie game has to feel he is apart of the movie, that he is in the movie. That is where the fun lies. As we know not only is the gamer lead to identify himself with the main stereotyped character, but this character becomes his surrogate in the diegetic universe, the avatar.” (Wolf & Perron, 2003) Perron has hit it exactly on the head with his quote, this is how I felt after beating Batman Arkham City. I felt as if I was Batman and was making his decisions that ultimately affected the final story.

“Immersion means the player is caught up in the world of the games story (the diegetic level) but it also refers to the player’s love of the game and the strategy that goes into it (the non diegetic level).” (Wolf & Perron, 2003)

I found the topic of player emotion and immersion to be one that seemed like the most important factor in playing video games. Some people just look at video games as toys and not entertainment. Video games in general during the early years were not even consider a form of media rather a hobby or fad that would eventually die off, but we all know that isn’t what happened.There is no better feeling then battling through a game for five hours and conquering a final boss to top it all off. The emotion and overall experience that a player has is what will make or break a videogame and in the world of videogames that tends to be either a studio that will make it or a studio that will ultimately fail. Games that make a player think and also provide a challenge have made the experience of the player also change drastically over the past decade. Games such as Ninja Gaiden and Dark Souls have been popularized for their difficulty, so much so that they have created a new dynamic that helps shape the interactivity and that is player to player conversation. Gamers now ask for feedback from their friends and other gamers through community chat rooms and forums that will help them reach the final goal or objective.

“The fact that in the case of the video game the "viewer" becomes a "player" means that the relationship between the user and the media changes. The interactivity of the video game appears to promise a different relation to the narrative and experience of the game, as well as a different relation to history.” (Tanine, 2010)

In the academic journal “The World War II Video Game” the author hits on many points that I have reflected above, about how film and games are simultaneously changing the world of media. No longer will an actor just have to be chained to movies. The world of motion capture or Mo-Cap, has allowed actors to display their performances not only on the silver screen, but it has allowed them to show their talents through games. Actress Ellen Page who has been in many famous movies such as “Juno”(2007) and most recently the blockbuster smash hit “Inception”(2010) has been challenging herself as an actress and has tested some uncharted waters with her new endeavor. Coming out in 2013 Ellen Page will star in a new Interactive game called Beyond: Two Souls. In the game Ellen page plays a young teen who finds out that her whole life, she has had a little helping hand. What helping hand you might ask? Well the helping hand is a ghost that has followed Ellen Page’s character her whole life. With actresses like Ellen Page making their way to video games, there is no telling what we will see next in upcoming years. Among the actors featured in Batman Arkham City and Arkham Asylum, like Mark Hamill and Kevin Konroy I feel Rocksteady has captured lightning in a bottle with the two Batman games. They have allowed the player to not only to play has the caped crusader, but they have also allowed the player to feel as if they were getting the movie experience on their own couch. Mentioned in the quote from above is the feeling of interactivity, the most important factor that Batman has captured is the ability to have the player feel as if they are making the story evolve and change during each punch and kick.

With over fourteen weeks of perspective and many topics to choose from such as feminism and violence. I felt that Film Theory and Immersion allowed me to best explain what kind of gamer I have become over my life. Games such as Uncharted, Infamous and of course Batman Arkham City have allowed me to play experiences that make me extremely happy. When thinking of other reasons that made me feel compelled to write about Arkham City was my love for film. Over the past two years I have studied film and even taken screenplay classes that have made me understand the in’s and out’s of the film industry. Without any hesitation also one of the biggest factors were the films from director Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins (2007), The Dark Knight (2009) and the newest in the Batman saga The Dark Knight Returns. (2012) (IMDB, 2012) Each one of these films have been critically acclaimed and have even made people that weren’t fans of comic books actually died hard believers. But with every believer there are thousands of doubters that say video games should stay separate from films and films should stay far, far away from video games. “Because fidelity to the original is of low priority when porting from games to cinema, direct adaptations of video games—with rare exceptions—have little in common with the aesthetics and conventions of the source material, and resemble the game primarily only in mise-en-scène and costume design.” (Brooker, 2009)

Over the years directors and Hollywood producers have been trying to push video game movies down our throats and in turn have made people shy away from playing these games. Mentioned in the academic article above, was Tomb Raider. This Play Station classic was seen to many as a game that finally had made being a female protagonist a cool thing. But with the release of the film in 2001, people came to realize that maybe movies and video games weren't meant to share the same stage. Other video game adaptations that have made poor showings at the box office are Prince of Persia (2010), Doom (2005) and last but not least, Resident Evil (2002). Now those film adaptations haven’t made great impressions on many fans around the world, but I feel that games should be games and films should remain the same. I also feel that if done right, both can steal great ideas from one another and create great things such as Batman Arkham City.

In conclusion, Batman Arkham City is not only just a good video game it is a great one. This game to me is exactly what makes playing video games fun and entertaining. A story that you can engulf yourself in and play for hours and hours. With the world of video games struggling like it is, people are constantly looking for a game that makes paying sixty dollars to GameStop a no-brainer and I feel that is exactly what Rocksteady has done with this gem. People are wanting more of a movie experience with their games and more than anything just want a story that makes them feel like they had something to do with it. With the introduction of large packs of DLC that will keep you playing hours after the game is done, to the re-release of Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition for the Wii U. Arkham City has made playing video games not just an entertainment, it has made the player a part of the game. Lastly, without being too Fanboyish one of the main factors of me choosing Batman Arkham City for the game to cover was simple. When I get home and I have an hour to kill I choose one game and one game only, that is Batman Arkham City. This game has so much to do and a story that is so engaging that I don’t ever feel guilty playing it. If you haven’t played this game I would highly recommend it and just know that it is going to be a fun ride. What other game can you fight Two-Face, Bane, Mr. Freeze, The Penguin and of course The Joker? And that was just to name a few of the most notable villains that Rocksteady has put in this game.

For years in this generation of technology there have been many products that have come and gone. The Sega Dreamcast made its debut in an era of gaming consoles, there was the Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. At first the Sega Dreamcast was thought to become the best of these consoles but only after a few short months and a little game called “HALO” it was clear that it would never make it in this industry. HD DVD, this was the first of its kind and was something that was going to change the movie industry forever. But when a thing called Blu-ray came along HD DVD couldn’t keep up. So with all of these technology gadgets that have come and gone there is one product that stands out in my mind and that is the Microsoft Zune.

The Zune is a MP3 and video player, it was launched in November of 2006 and was set to succeed the Apple IPod. The Zune was made by the largest software company in the world in Microsoft and also had got the backing from many large music studios. Sounds like a product that will change the world, well that isn’t how it worked out. The Zune came in Brown, Black and White and even for a short time even came out in Red during Valentine’s Day. It came in a 32GB and a 16GB which is very similar to the IPod which has been infamous for its many colors and many GB sizes. When the Zune launched, its original price was $250 for a 16 GB and went to has high as $350 dollars for a 32GB. It’s sad to say but as of today the asking price for a Zune is $99, now that is for the most basic version but this product has definitely fallen in the short time that it has been alive. The Zune Market-place was and is an application that allows users to manage their music libraries and upload videos to their media players. The Zune in its short existence has had four generations and with its newest innovation the ZuneHD which has allowed users to have a larger screen and a more clear picture. According to the Wall-Street Journal the Microsoft Zune during the holiday season of 2008 made a reported amount of 85 million dollars and sold over 3 million units of Zunes, Sounds great right? During that same year the Apple IPod made a reported amount of 3.37 Billon dollars.

As of last month there have been reports on many twitter and forum feeds that the Zune media player has reached its end and the company will stop manufacturing the Zune media player. With the recent releases of Zune HD and dozens of updates to the Zune player it is clear that the Zune cannot hack it with the Apple IPod. But I ask the question why is that? What makes the IPod so much better than the Zune Media player? From reading many reviews and blogs that I have read it is very clear that the general public prefers the Apple IPod due to the user friendly settings that it offers and one thing that always seems to keep popping up is the simplicity of the product. Apple has always been known for its simple colors and almost plain like settings. For the first years of its creation the apple IPod only came in black and white, the hardware sizes were only available in 32GB and 16GB. Now let’s fast forward to now, the IPod has come a long way since 2001, since then Apple has had six Generations of IPods, Six generations of IPod Nano’s, four generations of IPod shuffles, four generations of IPod Touches and lastly Apples newest and greatest product the Apple IPhone, it is on it latest version the 4S.

The IPhone has been one of the greatest innovations in the past decade and has gone to places that people were unaware of and has changed cell phones forever. Siri is a brand new application that allows users to literally speak to the phone and tell it commands. This application can send text messages, call contacts and even plan events for the upcoming week. The Microsoft phone on the other hand as been out for some time and has received mixed reviews, there has been a larger creation of smart phones in the past five years and seems that the Microsoft phone has been lost in the shuffle of those many smart phones. From Android to HTC it is hard to tell if the Microsoft smart phone will ever be able to hold its head up high in the large world of cell phones.

Now it seems that apple has cornered the market of Media players and cell phones and for a time being people are relatively happy about that. But I propose the question is this a good thing that one company is running away with the popularity contest? A monopoly is best defined or summarized as one company or organization that has control over one market. IPod definitely doesn’t have a monopoly over the MP3 market, but the other companies that sale MP3 players such as the Zune are so low on the totem poll that is seems that there will never be a predecessor to it. Sounds like the Zune has just shown up a tad too late to the MP3 party. The epic and always excited Zune guy has begun to get fed up.

I have gone over many different products, I have gone over GB size, the many array of colors, and the lots of applications that the Zune and IPod have to offer. In a world were IPod is king, it is easy to say that the Zune is queen and I can’t but feel bad for the Microsoft Zune. In the end the Zune had so many chances to be great but just constantly was always one step behind. I feel that a product like the Sega Dreamcast, HD DVD and Zune are products that needed to be made, due to the fact that if we aren’t pushing and creating new products then how will we ever know how far we can go with our technology limits. Lastly, I definitely feel that we haven’t heard the last from some other product that is going to take a run at the Apple IPod, it’s just a matter of time. When MySpace was created no one ever saw Facebook coming and when TAB cola was in its hay-day, Coca-Cola came in and totally swept it off the map. So in the end no product can ever say it’s safe and no product can ever say it is the best, but we can agree on one thing and that is the poor Zune is has come and gone.

“Lawless” is a time piece that portrays the Probation era in a way that most of us are unfamiliar with, from the 1930 Ford Model T getaway cars, to the southern voice acting. Lawless sets itself apart from some of the other movies that have tried this formula and failed. This film takes you on a ride that will have you laughing and covering your eyes due to some of the extreme violence.

The movie takes place in Franklin County, Virginia, the home of Moon-shine during the time of Probation. The film follows three brothers; Forrest Bondurant (Tom Hardy), Jack Bondurant (Shia LaBeof) and Howard Bondurant (Jason Clarke). The three brothers have started making quite a profit in the Moon-shine business and find themselves in a war with the new deputy from Chicago, Charlie Rakes played by actor Guy Pierce. This role of Charlie Rakes will make most viewers cringe, actor Guy Pierce who is best known for movies such as “Memento”, “Hurt Locker” and most recently “Prometheus” steals the show with his eccentric mannerisms and an unforgettable fight scene with Shia LaBeof.

The huge surprise in “Lawless” is the performance of actor Tom Hardy, who recently has claimed fame in the blockbuster “The Dark Knight Rises”. Hardy plays the oldest and wisest brother of the three and constantly finds himself in a fight which he always wins. Hardy shows in this film that he is a very versatile actor and can play more than just the hulking Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises”. Hardy also shows that he can play many different roles in which they have asked him to change his strong British dialect.

Now this film wasn’t perfect and most definitely had some parts that made me scratch my head. The film uses actor Gary Oldman to cameo as a local gangster (Floyd Banner), overall the most mysterious character in the film. I felt this character came in and left so quickly that I never had a chance to fully enjoy the great acting that Gary Oldman can do.

In Conclusion, “Lawless” is a film that is extremely violent and has gained its self the rating of “R”. But I hope this doesn’t scare viewers away from this gritty crime drama that will have you entertained from the very beginning to the very end. With a summer full of comic-book films from “The Avengers” to “The Amazing Spider-Man”, “Lawless” seems to be a sleeper hit that most movie lovers shouldn’t forget about.

When your my age and Resident Evil was the first game that you played, you can't but be a little excited for Resident Evil 6. The first time you played the resident evil franchise you found yourself asking your mom if you could sleep with the light on or could your best friend Johnny sleep over due to how scared you were. There is no denying that RE1 will go down as one of my favorite games, so when I start to hear that RE6 isn't looking so hot I tend to ignore it and reserve judgement for myself. I feel change is something that had to happen in this franchise, I can't understand when people get upset over the change. What did you want Capcom to do, just let you keep running around in mansions looking for crests and keys? During the summer months releases of new games is slow and can be very terrible, so to make sure I still enjoy some good gaming I'm gonna go back and play some good old Resident evil and hopefully pass the time until Resident Evil comes out in October, which is very smart on their part due to the spooky nature of Halloween.

There is no doubt that Sony made a huge statement last night and will win the the 2012 E3 Conference. Based on the presentation all the way to the games. There was God of war Ascension, All-Stars Battle Royale and last but not least The LAST OF US . Its no mistake that Sony went last on day one and that Microsoft went first. Its because Xbox has no new games besides old re-hashed games like gears of war and Halo 4.Now in respect to Microsoft, there will be no reason that Gears and Halo 4 won't sell great, but that is the one factor that makes Sony so appealing at the moment is that they are willing to a take a chance on a new IP, such as "Beyond" or "The Last of Us". Sony maybe loosing money but they are building a cult following from the the huge splash that happen last night at 6 pm.